Scottish Executive

Alcohol Misuse

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase funding to tackle alcohol problems.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The plan for action on alcohol problems, which was published on 18 January, sets out additional funding of £1.5 million for a national alcohol problems communications strategy and increased funding to Alcohol Actions Teams of £1 million. We will consider, over time, the need for additional resources for all types of action on alcohol problems including support and treatment services.

Arts

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what role the contemporary music industry will play in its recently announced cultural co-ordinators programme.

Dr Elaine Murray: The schools cultural co-ordinators pilot programme will seek to maximise the contribution to children and young people’s education of the full range of arts and cultural activities. The pilot programme will allow the local authorities participating to determine the ways in which this is done, reflecting local circumstance. Contemporary music has a special ability to engage and enthuse the young and I expect it to play an important part in the pilot activities.

Benefits

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking in order to assist local authorities in improving the processing of housing benefit claims.

Ms Margaret Curran: Housing benefit administration is a matter for the UK Government. Local authorities in Scotland have a statutory duty to administer housing benefit and council tax benefit under social security legislation and are funded by the UK Government for doing this.

  All authorities are expected to secure Best Value by the pursuit of continuous improvement across the full range of their activities. The Local Government in Scotland Bill, introduced on 16 May, will give statutory backing to the duty of Best Value and the audit regime which supports it.

Benefits

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what average time was taken to process housing benefit claims by each local authority in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01 and (c) 2001-02.

Ms Margaret Curran: The first full year in which data was collected on the performance of local authorities against each relevant performance indicator was 2000-01. The average times were as follows:

  average time for processing new claims – 48 days

  average time for processing notifications for changes of circumstance – 22 days

  percentage of renewal claims processed in time (before the end of the benefit period) - 75%

  Data for 2001-02 is not yet available.

  Source: Audit Scotland Performance Indicators 2000-01 - Benefits, Finance and Corporate Issues.

  Note: Three of the 32 local authorities in Scotland failed to provide the data requested and, in some cases, the appointed auditors expressed doubt as to the reliability of the data collected. The figures given are an average of the performance of the local authorities which responded.

Cancer

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many linear accelerators (a) are needed to meet patient demands and (b) exist currently (i) in total and (ii) in each NHS board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: Radiotherapy is a highly specialised form of cancer treatment which is available only in cancer centres. Linear accelerators are the equipment through which radiotherapy is delivered. These are sited in each of Scotland’s five cancer centres in Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow (NHS boards Highland, Grampian, Tayside, Lothian and Glasgow respectively). There are currently 18 linear accelerators, as follows:

  


Inverness 
  

1 
  



Aberdeen 
  

2 
  



Dundee 
  

2 
  



Edinburgh 
  

5 
  



Glasgow 
  

8 
  



Total 
  

18 
  



  Two additional linear accelerators are being installed in the Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow during the course of this year, bringing the total there to 10 and the national total to 20.

  The Royal College of Radiologists recommends that there should be five linear accelerators per million population. Scotland’s current total is equivalent to 3.5 per million population. With the additional two machines in Glasgow this will rise to 3.9 per million population by the end of 2002.

  A further wave of central purchasing (Wave 4) is currently being planned that, subject to the required investment appraisal process by NHS boards, will see a further six machines being commissioned. Two of these would be replacements but the other four are additional to current numbers.

Civil Servants

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance exists on the responsibilities and duties of its civil servants to (a) the Parliament, (b) the Executive and (c) the Crown.

Mr Andy Kerr: Civil servants are required to act in accordance with the terms of The Civil Service Code which sets out their responsibilities and duties.

Enterprise

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many companies Scottish Enterprise has provided a guarantee to underwrite bank borrowing, how many such companies have gone into liquidation and what the cost to Scottish Enterprise has been of repayments to financial institutions in respect of such liquidations, all in each of the last three years.

Iain Gray: The information requested is set out in the following table. In these three years none of the companies whose bank borrowings had been guaranteed by Scottish Enterprise were placed in receivership.

  

 

As at 31 March 
  



Scottish Enterprise
Guaranteed Bank Borrowings 
  

2002 
  

2001 
  

2000 
  



No. of Companies 
  

Value
(£000) 
  

No. of Companies 
  

Value
(£000) 
  

No. of Companies 
  

Value
(£000) 
  



Guaranteed Loan and Bank Overdrafts 
  

2 
  

4,539 
  

2 
  

4,539 
  

4 
  

4,689 
  



Bank Mortgage Guarantee Scheme 
  

8 
  

1,891 
  

11 
  

2,188 
  

16 
  

2,574

Ferry Services

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering the possibility of operating a pet passport scheme on the Rosyth to Zeebrugge route.

Ross Finnie: My officials have been in contact with representatives of Superfirst Ferries about this issue. We are waiting for Superfirst Ferries to come back to us to fully discuss how they plan to operate the scheme.

Health

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list each record held in each hospital in respect of death, pathology and post-mortem of children following intrauterine transfusions in each year from 1975 to 1985.

Malcolm Chisholm: Due to restrictions on the release of named patient data, it is not possible to provide details of the very small numbers of children who have had intrauterine transfusions. This information cannot be sufficiently anonymised in order to protect patient confidentiality.

Justice

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) ad hoc legal staff and (b) casual contract administrative staff, below senior civil service grade, were employed in the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service in (i) 2001 and (ii) the first four months of 2002 to cover (1) court work and precognition work and (2) administration and precognition work, broken down by procurator fiscal region.

Colin Boyd QC: The information requested is detailed as follows:

  Ad Hoc Legal Staff

  


Region 
  

No. Ad Hoc's Used^ 
  

No. Days 2001 
  

No. Days Jan to April 2002 
  

No. Days Court Work 
  

No. Days PO Work 
  



Tayside 
  

28 
  

344 
  

140 
  

Court work only 
  
 



North Strathclyde 
  

8 
  

330 
  

90 
  

2001 - 312 2002 - 87 
  

2001 - 18 2002 - 3 
  



South Strathclyde 
  

30 
  

754 
  

330 
  

Court work only 
  
 



Glasgow 
  

20 
  

1,329.5 
  

474 
  

Court work only 
  
 



Grampian 
  

2 
  

161 
  

31 
  

Court work only 
  
 



Lothian 
  

14 
  

692 
  

126 
  

Court work only 
  
 



Total 
  

102 
  

3,610.5 
  

1,191 
  

2001 - 3,592.5 1, 1188 - 2002 
  

18 - 2001 
3 - 2002 
  



  Note:

  ^ Covers the period 1.1.01 - 30.4.02.

  Casual Administrative Staff

  





Precognition 
  

Administrative 
  



2001 
  

Jan to April 2002 
  

2001 
  

Jan to April 2002 
  



Crown Office 
  
 
 

8 
  

4 (includes 1 continuing in employment from 
  2001) 
  



Tayside 
  
 
 

26 
  

11 (includes 9 continuing in employment from 
  2001) 
  



North Strathclyde 
  
 
 

23 
  

14 (includes 8 continuing in employment from 
  2001) 
  



South Strathclyde 
  
 
 

18 
  

11 (includes 9 continuing in employment from 
  2001) 
  



Glasgow 
  

2 
  

1* 
  

33 
  

23 (includes 16 continuing in employment 
  from 2001) 
  



Grampian 
  

6 
  

4 * 
  

24 
  

17 (includes 12 continuing in employment 
  from 2001) 
  



Lothian 
  

1 
  
 

31 
  

5 (all continuing in employment from 2001) 
  



Total 
  

9 
  

5 
  

163 
  

85 (includes 55 continuing in employment 
  from 2002) 
  



  Note:

  * These were continuing contracts from 2001.

  For information as per table we have included staff on contracts of various lengths and terms (part-time/full-time). Some casual staff have subsequently become permanent members of staff.

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering providing additional funding for local authorities to establish, and assist in the operation of, local land fora.

Ross Finnie: The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill places a number of new duties on local authorities in respect of access, including the establishment of local access forums. The financial implications of these new duties are being considered as part of the current spending review.

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what role it forsees for local land fora if the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill is enacted.

Ross Finnie: Section 24 (1) of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill requires each local authority to establish at least one local access forum in its area. Section 24 (2) sets down the functions of these forums as being "to advise the local authority and any other person or body consulting the forum on matters having to do with the exercise of access rights or the drawing up and adoption of a plan for a system of core paths". It is also intended that   forums may assist in the resolution of disputes about the exercise of access rights, the drawing up and adoption of core path plans or the use of core paths.

Mining

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive under what conditions Scottish Enterprise agreed to act as guarantor for Scottish Coal (Deep Mine) Ltd.

Iain Gray: The conditions that were attached by Scottish Enterprise to the offer of a bank guarantee to underwrite Scottish Coal (Deep Mine) Ltd's borrowing are a commercially confidential matter between Scottish Enterprise, the company and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Mining

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the directors of Scottish Coal (Deep Mine) Ltd were required to give a personal guarantee to financial institutions to underwrite borrowing as a condition of the guarantee from Scottish Enterprise.

Iain Gray: No.

NHS Waiting Times

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why a 70-year-old person in the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth constituency area who is practically housebound owing to swollen nerves in the foot has been informed that, even with an urgent referral, there will be a wait of at least four to five months prior to receiving treatment and what action it will take in order to resolve this and any similar situations.

Malcolm Chisholm: Tackling waiting at all stages of the patient’s journey is a key priority for the Scottish Executive. That is why extra resources have been made available to help NHSScotland to reduce waiting times. The National Waiting Times Unit is currently undertaking a programme of visits to all mainland boards and trusts to review their plans for ensuring delivery of national waiting times targets and the development of local waiting time standards. These local standards will reflect local priorities and focus on tackling the longest waits for outpatients clinics and diagnostic tests.

NHS Waiting Times

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time for medical treatment in the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth constituency area has been in each of the last 12 months and what timescale would be an unacceptable waiting period.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information on waiting times within the NHS in respect of individual NHS board and NHS trust areas is published quarterly by ISD Scotland and is available in the Scottish Health on the Web (SHOW) website at:

  http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/acute_activity/index.htm.

  Waiting for diagnosis and treatment may occur at several points in a patient’s journey. Acceptable limits of waiting will vary depending on the circumstances. Tackling waiting is a key priority. The Executive has set waiting times targets for the NHS and information about performance against these targets will be published. Extra resources have been made available to NHSScotland to help reduce waiting times.

National Insurance Contributions

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what financial impact the 1% increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions announced in the UK Budget 2002 will have on each local authority and what additional financial resources will be allocated to each local authority specifically to compensate for the increase.

Mr Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-25291 on 14 May 2002.

Older People

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the aim is of the Better Government for Older People and Older People Advisory Group event at Victoria Quay on 28 and 29 May 2002; how the outcomes of the event will influence its policy, and what action will be taken in respect of such outcomes.

Mr Frank McAveety: The aim of the event, which is being organised by the Better Government for Older People Network and the Scottish Older People's Advisory Group, is to work towards a Scottish Better Government for Older People Network. The Scottish Executive is providing facilities at Victoria Quay for the event and will be looking at the outcome with interest.

Older People

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much the Better Government for Older People and Older People Advisory Group event at Victoria Quay on 28 and 29 May 2002 will cost.

Mr Frank McAveety: The cost to the Scottish Executive of providing buffet lunches and coffee for local authority and older people's representatives attending the event at Victoria Quay is being met from within existing running costs. Other costs are a matter for the Better Government for Older People Network.

Parliamentary Questions

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider placing in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre details of the types of information it holds centrally that would aid the formulation of parliamentary questions, broken down by department and division and detailing the reasons behind its position on this matter.

Patricia Ferguson: We do not have a central record of all information held by each division within the Scottish Executive and one could only be provided, and maintained, at disproportionate cost. However, through the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information,  Scottish ministers emphasise the importance we attach to making factual information as widely available as possible. To that end, copies of key Scottish Executive publications such as consultation papers, White Papers, annual reports and departmental circulars are made available to the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Planning

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25459 by Ms Margaret Curran on 13 May 2002, what the outcomes were of the seven cases referred to it involving the possible loss of playing fields.

Hugh Henry: Of the seven cases notified to the Scottish ministers since December 1997, two were cleared back to the local authority and approval was granted (Glasgow, Edinburgh); one was called in and subsequently refused (Aberdeen); another case was later withdrawn (Edinburgh), and three are currently under consideration by the Scottish ministers (all Grangemouth).

Police

Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which police authorities have approached it for additional funding for uniformed or support personnel.

Mr Jim Wallace: All police authorities have indicated at some point, either formally or informally, that additional funding for extra officers would be beneficial to their communities.

  Since April 2000, additional special grant of £8.1 million per year has been allocated to forces to provide for the recruitment of extra officers. Funding for the police service in Scotland is at an all time high, as are police numbers. There are now 15,251 officers (as at 31 March 2002). There are in addition 5,535 whole time equivalent civilian support staff.

  To arrive at the distribution of Grant Aided Expenditure for 2002-03, forces were invited to submit detailed estimates of their needs for the current year assuming no change in the levels of service provided by the police. Budgets were submitted via the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the funding settlement for 2002-03 enabled the bids to be met in full.

Police

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of officers in (a) Grampian, (b) Tayside police forces and (c) all police forces were (i) recruited and (ii) on long-term sick leave in each year since 1997.

Mr Jim Wallace: The number and percentage of officers recruited in Grampian, Tayside and all forces is shown in the following tables.

  

 

Number of officers recruited 
  


 

1996-97 
  

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  

1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  



Grampian 
  

64 
  

85 
  

99 
  

24 
  

115 
  



Tayside 
  

41 
  

74 
  

42 
  

38 
  

66 
  



Scotland 
  

828 
  

762 
  

367 
  

484 
  

1,053 
  



  

 

Officers recruited as a percentage of strength 
  in March of each year 
  


 

1997 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  

2000 
  

2001 
  



Grampian 
  

5.5% 
  

7.1% 
  

7.9% 
  

2.0% 
  

9.0% 
  



Tayside 
  

3.7% 
  

6.5% 
  

3.7% 
  

3.3% 
  

5.7% 
  



Scotland 
  

5.6% 
  

5.1% 
  

2.5% 
  

3.3% 
  

7.0% 
  



  The number of officers recruited in each financial year is collected in HM Inspectorate of Constabulary’s Annual Statistical Return. The figures for 2001-02 will be available very shortly.

  Information on the numbers of officers on long-term sick leave in each year since 1997 is not held centrally.

Police

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of officers left (a) Grampian, (b) Tayside police forces and (c) all police forces owing to work-related ill health in each year since 1997.

Mr Jim Wallace: Information at this level of detail is not held centrally.

Prison Service

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the PricewaterhouseCoopers Financial Review of Scottish Prison Service Estates Review, whether any calculation has been made and added to the cost of private prisons of the cost to it of any additional risk that private sector prisons may fail in the rehabilitation of prisoners and, if so, what the method of calculation was and, if not, what the reasons were for not calculating any such risk.

Mr Jim Wallace: No such cost has been included in any of the options outlined in the Estates Review. Since there is no additional risk any associated cost would be applicable equally to both public and private sector prisons.

Public Sector

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to consider what steps security guards and their employers, contracted to it or any other public body, might take to increase their protection.

Mr Andy Kerr: A wide range of security measures is already in place throughout the Executive. These are kept under review and additional measures put in place as appropriate. It would be inappropriate to detail the measures deployed.

  Responsibility for security in other public bodies rests with the relevant management boards.

Public Transport

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how public transport links to the Rosyth ferry terminal will be improved from (a) the Lothians, (b) Strathclyde, (c) Fife and (d) elsewhere in Scotland.

Lewis Macdonald: Transport Challenge Funding and Public Transport Fund grants totalling £11.6 million have been made to Fife Council to support additional rail services between south Fife and Edinburgh, and to make improvements to rail services and stations at Rosyth and Inverkeithing. In addition, grants of £4.7 million have been made to Fife and City of Edinburgh Councils to develop park-and-ride and bus priority measures between Fife and Edinburgh.

  There are currently no new public transport services to Strathclyde or other parts of Scotland. However, dedicated bus and taxi services at the ferry terminal will link to the wider Scottish bus and rail networks through Inverkeithing, Dunfermline and Edinburgh.

Recycling

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scotland has met the 50% target for the recovery and recycling of waste under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997.

Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-25847 on 14 May 2002.

Roads

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, given that there is no definition of the term "order" in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 nor in the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, that the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 amends the definition contained in section 2 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984 and that all three acts apply to the Skye Bridge crossing, whether the amended definition whereby "a traffic regulation order may make any provision prohibiting, restricting or regulating the use of a road" indicates regulation of the A87 trunk road by the three traffic regulation orders issued in relation to the Invergarry-Kyle of Lochalsh Trunk Road (A87) Extension (Skye bridge Crossing) Special Road Scheme Order 1992 (SI 1992/1499).

Lewis Macdonald: The three main orders issued in relation to the Skye Bridge crossing are The Invergarry - Kyle of Lochalsh Trunk Road (A87) Extension (Skye Bridge Crossing) (Detrunking) Order 1992, The Invergarry - Kyle of Lochalsh Trunk Road (A87) Extension (Skye Bridge Crossing) Special Road (Side Roads) Order 1992 and The Invergarry - Kyle of Lochalsh Trunk Road (A87) Extension (Skye Bridge Crossing) Toll Order 1992. These were made under powers in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 and the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991. They are not traffic regulation orders.

Roads

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a traffic regulation order authorising the charging of tolls on a trunk road regulates in any sense the use of that road.

Lewis Macdonald: Tolls are charged on trunk roads at the Erskine and Skye Bridges. The power to levy tolls is set out in primary legislation - the Erskine Bridge Tolls Act 2001 and the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 respectively - not in traffic regulation orders.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the A830 trunk road is in a safe condition; what response it has made, or plans to make, to the claim by Mallaig Community Council that the road is not in a safe condition and the request made by the council to BEAR Scotland Ltd in a letter of 12 May 2002 to bring the road up to a safe condition; whether BEAR believes that the road is in a safe condition; if not, what action BEAR plans to take and, should any proposals which BEAR make not be accepted by the community council, what action it will take and, in particular, whether it will direct BEAR to take all necessary action to put the road into an acceptable and safe condition.

Lewis Macdonald: Scottish Executive and BEAR Scotland Ltd are aware of the condition of the A830 which has been caused mainly by the wet weather and the freeze/thaw conditions over last winter. The action to repair potholes and undertake patching on the route has ensured it has remained safe.

  Mallaig Community Council wrote to the Scottish Executive on 12 May 2002 expressing concerns about the A830 and a reply confirmed that a structural maintenance scheme was programmed to be implemented in the autumn. Meantime, an interim strategy to undertake urgent repairs and increase the frequency of safety inspections has been formulated to ensure road safety is maintained.

  In addition to the repairs already carried out, further extensive patching works have been identified and will be implemented shortly.

  In recognition of the importance of this route, consultations have started with some of the interested parties on the optimum timing of the proposed works.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25402 by Lewis Macdonald on 10 May 2002, whether it will place copies of the two contracts, including the alterations referred to, with BEAR Scotland Ltd for the management and maintenance of the north west and north east units in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre; whether it will give a detailed breakdown of the additional costs to be paid to BEAR for the additional responsibilities as a result of these contract alterations, and what these costs will cover, how they will be calculated and why they are required.

Lewis Macdonald: A generic copy of the contract document applicable to all four management and maintenance contracts is already available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 16573). The minor alterations to the two contracts with BEAR Scotland Ltd came into effect when the Executive wrote formally to BEAR. The majority of these alterations have not as yet been recorded in the individual contract documents. When they are, arrangements will be made for the generic copy to be amended.

  The minor alterations include improved communications with the National Driver Information and Control System (NADICS), new provision for direct communications between BEAR and the press and MSPs/MPs, and increased safety inspections on some routes.

  It would not be appropriate to publish details of the additional costs to be paid to BEAR as a result of these minor alterations because of commercial and contractual considerations. However, the costs are not significant in comparison with the existing contract costs.

Rural Development

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timescale is for completion of the Rural Community Gateway website.

Ross Finnie: Work is under way on the development of the Rural Community Gateway website, and we hope to be able to launch it early in 2003. The website will be evaluated following its first year of operation.

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the terms of reference will be of the policy and financial management review of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Allan Wilson: The Executive is committed to ensuring that each public body is subject to a regular policy and financial management review. A review of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) will start in June 2002. The terms of reference for the review will be:

  To examine the role and functions of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the effectiveness and efficiency with which these functions are carried out. The review will:

  consider how effectively SEPA has performed since it was established and seek the views of a range of stakeholders on its performance;

  consider how well SEPA responds to the policies and priorities of the Scottish ministers and if the level of delegation to SEPA from the Scottish Executive is sufficient and appropriate;

  examine the role of SEPA in relation to other bodies with responsibilities for environmental protection and regulation;

  identify ways of improving the service that SEPA provides to local communities and regulated organisations;

  examine the policies and practices of SEPA in relation to the charges it levies for its regulatory service;

  look at ways of improving the system of environmental permits and emissions monitoring, and

  identify the key issues that need to be addressed to allow SEPA to meet the challenges posed by the shifting focus of environmental legislation.

  The review will be expected to make recommendations to the Scottish ministers in all of the key areas outlined above.

  The review will be informed by other relevant reviews, in particular the recent quinquennial review of the Environment Agency in England and Wales and the December 2000 Audit Scotland report A Measure of Protection.

  These terms of reference take account of the outcome of the 2001 Public Bodies Review, which concluded that there was no fundamental change needed to the functions and structure of SEPA. The Public Bodies Review made cross-cutting recommendations relevant to all public bodies; the implementation of these recommendations in relation to SEPA will be considered as part of the review.

  As an essential part of the review process, officials will be consulting widely with interested parties. It is intended to hold a stakeholder event early in the review to help define the detailed scope and identify the key questions to be answered in the review, within the broad terms of reference.

Scottish Executive

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the proposed timescale is for implementing its Business Improvement Plan; whether any redundancies will arise, and whether any staff will experience restrictions on individual career development as a result of this process.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Business Improvement Plan aims to improve facilities management services in the Executive and reduce costs by £2.1 million per annum. Over the period 2002-03 to 2004-05 a number of changes will be made to the organisation of facilities services within the Executive, to contracts which support this work and the way in which staff gain access to services. The Executive offers a wide range of interesting and challenging careers and aims to maintain continuity of employment and offer development opportunities to all its staff. Every effort will therefore be made to ensure that staff surpluses do not arise and redundancies are avoided through establishing staff preferences, re-skilling, retraining and redeployment.

Scottish Executive Expenditure

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average administration costs are for each scheme administered or run by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department, expressed as a percentage of total costs in each case.

Ross Finnie: My department has recently undertaken a review of its administration of the Common Agricultural Policy schemes in Scotland, which included an analysis of administration costs. The costs were presented as a cost per £ of subsidy paid, and the results are given in the table for the main Common Agricultural Policy schemes and the Agri-Environment schemes.

  


Main CAP Schemes, 2000-01 
  

Cost Per £ of Subsidy Paid 
  



Area Aid Application/Arable Area Payments Scheme+ 
  

£0.04 
  



Suckler Cow Premium Scheme 
  

£0.03 
  



Slaughter Premium Scheme 
  

£0.15 
  



Beef Special Premium Scheme 
  

£0.04 
  



Sheep Annual Premium Scheme 
  

£0.02 
  



Extensification Payment Scheme 
  

£0.03 
  



Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme 
  

£0.02 
  



Average for all the above schemes 
  

£0.03 
  



  Note:

  (+) Includes Area Aid Application base forms covering the livestock schemes.

  


Agri-Environment Schemes, 2000-01 
  

Cost Per £ of Grant Paid 
  



Countryside Premium Scheme 
  

£0.21 
  



Habitats Scheme/Heather Moorland Scheme 
  

£0.37 
  



Organic Aid Scheme 
  

£0.07 
  



Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme 
  

£0.16 
  



Farm Woodland Premium Scheme 
  

£0.05 
  



Farm Woodland Scheme 
  

£0.05 
  



Average for all the above schemes 
  

£0.14 
  



  Note:

  The figures shown in the table compare data on the costs to Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department of administering the schemes with the amount paid out to producers in subsidy or grant. The administrative costs relate to the 2000-01 financial year, while the subsidy figures relate to the 2000-01 scheme processing year.

Scottish Executive Staff

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its employees are currently employed on casual employment contracts and how many of these are employed on such contracts for one year or more, broken down by department and division.

Mr Andy Kerr: As at 1 April 2002, 291 staff were working on a casual basis in the Scottish Executive core departments. The total is broken down by department in the table. Information is not readily available at divisional level.

  


Department 
  

Casual Staff 
  

Casual Staff in Post More Than a Year 
  



Core Departments 
  

 


 




Corporate Services 
  

43 
  

6 
  



Development 
  

21 
  

 




Education 
  

34 
  

 




Enterprise and Lifelong Learning 
  

26 
  

2 
  



Environment and Rural Affairs 
  

105 
  

16 
  



Finance and Central Services 
  

38 
  

 




Health 
  

17 
  

 




Justice 
  

7 
  

 




All 
  

291 
  

24

Scottish Transport Group Pension Schemes

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to the supplementary question to question S1O-5128 by Lewis Macdonald on 2 May 2002, whether the audited accounts of the trustees of the Scottish Transport Group will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre; whether it is obliged to lay the accounts before the Parliament, and what period of time will elapse before any such statutory duty is complied with.

Lewis Macdonald: No, the Scottish Transport Group is not obliged to lay the report and accounts of the individual pension schemes before Parliament. There is, however, a statutory requirement to present the Scottish Transport Group annual report and accounts to Parliament. The report and accounts for the final period, covering 1 April 2001 to the date of dissolution, is scheduled to be presented to Parliament in July, following completion of the audit process.

Sexual Health

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how much public money was spent providing sexual health services targeted at, and accessible to, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people in each of the last two years and how much is proposed to be spent in the current year, broken down by NHS board.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The information requested is not held centrally.

Social Inclusion

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how much public money was spent on youth work provision targeted at, and accessible by, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people in each of the last two years and how much is proposed to be spent in the current year, broken down by local authority.

Cathy Jamieson: The information requested is not held centrally.

Social Inclusion

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how its personal care and social education policies will seek to tackle homophobia and homophobic attitudes.

Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive is committed to looking at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues as part of its wider work on mainstreaming equality and promoting equal opportunities.

  Following a meeting with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in autumn 2001 the, then, Minister for Health asked officials to convene a discussion forum to ensure that the particular health needs of these communities were identified and addressed. The group has met on three occasions and an agreed programme of work is now under way.

  For young people, personal and social education offers opportunities to explore issues surrounding gender stereotypes, equal opportunities and discrimination, respect and caring both for self and others, and respect for individual differences.

Special Educational Needs

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to (a) introducing "rucksack" funding packages for children with special educational needs, which follow the child throughout his or her education, and (b) funding such packages centrally.

Cathy Jamieson: We have no plans to introduce such arrangements.

  The majority of funding for special educational needs provision is provided to local authorities through grant-aided expenditure and is so allocated to allow authorities to deliver effective provision, which takes account of local needs and circumstances and economies of scale. Within the funding available to them local authorities can implement integrated packages of education and care, including joint funding arrangements agreed with other agencies, for individual children with special educational needs.

Special Educational Needs

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-5174 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 May 2002, whether it will give a breakdown of each targeted resource for children and young people with special educational needs by local authority area in (a) 2002-03 and (b) 2003-04.

Cathy Jamieson: The breakdown of the proposed National Priorities Action Fund Inclusion Programme and special educational needs (SEN) Specific Grant for in-service training by local authority area, in both 2002-03 and 2003-04, is provided in the following table:

  





Inclusion Funding 
  

In-Service Training Funding 
  



Education Authority 
  

Each year in
2002-03 and 2003-04 
  

Each year in 2002-03 and 2003-04 
  



Scotland 
  

£20,000,000 
  

£6,743,551 
  



Aberdeen City 
  

£789,565 
  

£243,860.00 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

£940,276 
  

£314,316.00 
  



Angus 
  

£423,887 
  

£133,425.00 
  



Argyll and Bute 
  

£325,925 
  

£120,118.00 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

£195,108 
  

£87,574.00 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

£553,058 
  

£204,150 
  



Dundee City 
  

£558,378 
  

£175,170 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

£481,870 
  

£171,107 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

£423,835 
  

£150,958 
  



East Lothian 
  

£347,795 
  

£94,421 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

£355,731 
  

£119,384 
  



Edinburgh, City of 
  

£1,556,880 
  

£421,294 
  



Eilean Siar 
  

£108,255 
  

£79,029 
  



Falkirk 
  

£554,271 
  

£239,294.00 
  



Fife 
  

£1,395,147 
  

£460,982.00 
  



Glasgow City 
  

£2,376,008 
  

£810,632.00 
  



Highland 
  

£830,808 
  

£263,421.00 
  



Inverclyde 
  

£345,629 
  

£123,676.00 
  



Midlothian 
  

£320,536 
  

£93,362.00 
  



Moray 
  

£349,302 
  

£113,528.00 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

£572,830 
  

£196,810.00 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

£1,351,617 
  

£466,277.00 
  



Orkney Islands 
  

£79,021 
  

£85,618.00 
  



Perth and Kinross 
  

£507,760 
  

£152,392.00 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

£706,957 
  

£240,084.00 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

£390,199 
  

£98,780.00 
  



Shetland Islands 
  

£99,365 
  

£65,900.00 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

£430,454 
  

£144,918.00 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

£1,246,360 
  

£420,269.00 
  



Stirling 
  

£336,306 
  

£134,115.00 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

£402,433 
  

£137,510.00 
  



West Lothian 
  

£644,434 
  

£181,177.00 
  



Total 
  

£20,000,000 
  

£6,743,551 
  



  Note:

  In addition to the in-service training funding above for teachers and other staff, a further £1,079,450 has been allocated for training for educational psychologists each year. This funding is allocated to local authorities on the basis of trainee placements sponsored.

  SEN Innovation Grant Programme funding cannot be broken down by local authority area because grants are awarded to voluntary and non-statutory organisations to carry out projects in the field of special educational needs. Some of these projects will be carried out across Scotland on a national basis, whilst others will be carried out in local areas.

  Funding is allocated directly to the seven grant-aided special schools, and not direct to local authorities, and these schools are open to pupils from across Scotland. £8.8 million has been allocated to these grant-aided special schools for 2002-03.

Statistics

Mr Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its Statistics Plan for 2002-03.

Mr Andy Kerr: I am pleased to announce that we are publishing the third Scottish Executive Statistics Plan, for 2002-03, for consultation today. We received a number of useful comments on the first two plans, which have influenced the development of our proposals for 2002-03. Executive staff have also contributed fully to the development of the second UK National Statistics Work Programme. This includes significant proposals for the development of the Scottish Executive Statistics, while our own plan gives more details.

  We remain committed to making available high quality statistics which meet the needs of users and support informed decision making.

  I am placing a copy of the Scottish Executive Statistics Plan in the Parliament’s Reference Centre and additional copies are available in the Document Supply Centre.

Voluntary Sector

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to provide financial support for advice and information services provided by the voluntary sector.

Ms Margaret Curran: We currently provide support for different forms of advice and information either to support national organisations to improve the infrastructure for advice, or targeted locally at primary provision. For example, we recently allocated £3 million per annum in additional resources to local authorities to secure the expansion of local money advice services, including provision by the voluntary sector.

Voluntary Sector

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what role it envisages for public sector partners in providing financial support for advice and information services provided by the voluntary sector.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive   currently provides financial support for advice and information either to support national organisations to improve the infrastructure for advice, or targeted locally at primary provision.

  Local authorities and other public bodies take on a major role in supporting local advice provision, in accordance with local need or the particular remit and responsibility of the public body.

Voluntary Sector

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how voluntary sector organisations meet their central overhead costs and whether it envisages any role for public sector partners in meeting these costs.

Ms Margaret Curran: Voluntary organisations meet their central overhead costs through a range of funding mechanisms, including grant funding, and income from donations and trading, rents and investments. The Scottish Executive itself provides core funding for a range of organisations including the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and Volunteer Development Scotland.

  Following on from its review of direct funding, the Executive is committed to conducting a strategic review of funding for the voluntary sector that will look at how public funding meets the needs of the sector. This review will consider whether it is possible for all funders of the sector to work together to ensure that they are operating in a way that meets their own needs and those of the sector. The review is due to commence in the summer, and discussions on how best to take work forward are taking place with SCVO and COSLA.